Are you a hedgehog hobbyist? If so, we invite you to join our community and see what it has to offer. Our site is specifically designed for you and it's a great place for hedgehog enthusiasts to meet online. Once you join you'll be able to post messages, upload pictures of your pets and enclosures and have a great time with other hedgehog enthusiasts. Sign up today!

SoCal Hedgehog Breeder

Hello there
I get this a lot so before anyone starts: I am aware of the legal situation surrounding hedgehogs in SoCal at this time. I do not breed unethically meaning that I do not overbreed; each hoglet is played with and socialised daily; each breeder 'hog is only bred until they are no longer of breeding age (around 2 to 2 1/2 years of age) and are then given away (only in VERY special circumstances) or sold to those who really want the experience of owning a hedgehog but cannot afford a baby; each habitat is large enough for one hedgehog, a wheel, a large igloo, food, water, and lots of room for them to root around in their bedding effectively creating a huge but hilarious mess.
Bottom line: I treat my hedgehogs better than most breeders I've run into here in SoCal. I wish I could get certified but the legal system is sadly misinformed on these hardly dangerous creatures whose only impact on the surrounding "flora and fauna" in this concrete jungle would be a very sad misunderstanding of how making a nest beneath the wheel of a parked car isn't the best of ideas.

Now that that is out of the way... Hello! I'm Amy and I've been breeding since 2011-ish. I have one Albino female named Rosey the Rascal, one Salt & Pepper female Runs-In-Circles (she named herself, believe me lol), another S&P female named Fortuna, a Pinto named Calliope, and a stud named Nigel.

I started breeding hedgehogs when I ran into a man down at the local smoke shop who happened to have a male who he was willing to lend out as long as I let him keep one of the babies. I was totally inexperienced and totally cool with that. So I borrowed his hedgehog for a week and bred him with Scout, my very first hedgie. They produced three litters, from one of which I kept the Runs-In-Circles and Calliope. Our friendship ended there, however, as he lost his hedgehog-- more accurately "I got stoned then I went to a baseball game and I forgot that I left him outside and he was gone!", there was an actual hostage/ransom situation involved and the people wanted one of our babies as payment so that we could get this dude's hedgie back. They knew I had babies and they wanted one NOW. They were only 4 weeks old at best and I got texts, and calls, and just pestered to death about giving up one of the babies "right now!" To which I replied "No. They will die." Nobody seemed to understand that these were living, breathing animals so I severed ties with this guy who then, with behaviour befitting a man of his age (late 40's), he began writing trash all over my old FB account about how awful I am. I didn't even respond. That is some advice I'd like to give to fellow breeders who get harassed about things on their social media outlets-- delete the comments if you can and ignore these people. If the comments cannot be deleted, do as little damage control as possible by saying something like "I worked with this person once but their business model and mine were not compliant" or "Please refrain from harassing me and my customers". Strangely, that has worked for me in the past and I say "strangely" because this is the internet-- the place where Trolls thrive and multiply.
Without the help of this guy's hedgie, I was going to have to shut down operations until I found a new stud. LUCKILY, literally a day or two later, a couple had a hedgehog that they just couldn't wait to get rid of. This was Bruce and he was a wonderful stud for about a year and a half before he ran out of steam and failed to produce litters. I sold him to a new home and, as far as I've heard, he's happy as a 'hog in sh*t lol Another stroke of good luck happened to me when a wonderful woman who was going to buy from me bought from another seller. I had answered a great deal of her questions and told her that, even though she had not bought from me, I would be glad to answer any more questions that she might have regarding her new charge who she named Nigel. Six weeks later, I get a call from her asking if I want to purchase Nigel from her. She was unhappy because she could not hold him. It turned out that he was a biter and had been from the very start. However, he was calm otherwise and did not exhibit any health issues or other social problems so I went ahead and bought him. I got bit when I transferred him from his old home into his new one. After getting bit four times, visiting the doctor four times, getting my tetanus update once, and antibiotics all four times (plus one personal pregnancy scare-- thanks, Nigel!), I went to Home Depot and bought some industrial strength gloves that even those wicked fangs of his couldn't penetrate.
Hedgehog production slowed down during the time when I had to figure out why Bruce was "shooting blanks" and the time in which I bought Nigel and raised him to be old enough to breed. Then I moved and my breeding schedule got all wonky and I forgot to breed Runs-In-Circles and didn't breed Rosey long for long enough... What a crazy rollercoaster ride this has been!
I'm now looking for a second male who I can mate with Fortuna, the daughter of Nigel and Calliope.
My boyfriend also made me a snazzy and very organised space in my oversized office where I can keep all of my hedgehogs plus a few other critters that I have crowdin' up the joint.

If you'd like to follow the hijinks that are a regular occurrence in the home of a hedgehog breeder then follow me on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr all under the name of Hedgehoginablog.
I look forward to working with all of you, sharing experiences, and learning new things!

Hello there
I get this a lot so before anyone starts: I am aware of the legal situation surrounding hedgehogs in SoCal at this time. I do not breed unethically meaning that I do not overbreed; each hoglet is played with and socialised daily; each breeder 'hog is only bred until they are no longer of breeding age (around 2 to 2 1/2 years of age) and are then given away (only in VERY special circumstances) or sold to those who really want the experience of owning a hedgehog but cannot afford a baby; each habitat is large enough for one hedgehog, a wheel, a large igloo, food, water, and lots of room for them to root around in their bedding effectively creating a huge but hilarious mess.
Bottom line: I treat my hedgehogs better than most breeders I've run into here in SoCal. I wish I could get certified but the legal system is sadly misinformed on these hardly dangerous creatures whose only impact on the surrounding "flora and fauna" in this concrete jungle would be a very sad misunderstanding of how making a nest beneath the wheel of a parked car isn't the best of ideas.

Now that that is out of the way... Hello! I'm Amy and I've been breeding since 2011-ish. I have one Albino female named Rosey the Rascal, one Salt & Pepper female Runs-In-Circles (she named herself, believe me lol), another S&P female named Fortuna, a Pinto named Calliope, and a stud named Nigel.

I started breeding hedgehogs when I ran into a man down at the local smoke shop who happened to have a male who he was willing to lend out as long as I let him keep one of the babies. I was totally inexperienced and totally cool with that. So I borrowed his hedgehog for a week and bred him with Scout, my very first hedgie. They produced three litters, from one of which I kept the Runs-In-Circles and Calliope. Our friendship ended there, however, as he lost his hedgehog-- more accurately "I got stoned then I went to a baseball game and I forgot that I left him outside and he was gone!", there was an actual hostage/ransom situation involved and the people wanted one of our babies as payment so that we could get this dude's hedgie back. They knew I had babies and they wanted one NOW. They were only 4 weeks old at best and I got texts, and calls, and just pestered to death about giving up one of the babies "right now!" To which I replied "No. They will die." Nobody seemed to understand that these were living, breathing animals so I severed ties with this guy who then, with behaviour befitting a man of his age (late 40's), he began writing trash all over my old FB account about how awful I am. I didn't even respond. That is some advice I'd like to give to fellow breeders who get harassed about things on their social media outlets-- delete the comments if you can and ignore these people. If the comments cannot be deleted, do as little damage control as possible by saying something like "I worked with this person once but their business model and mine were not compliant" or "Please refrain from harassing me and my customers". Strangely, that has worked for me in the past and I say "strangely" because this is the internet-- the place where Trolls thrive and multiply.
Without the help of this guy's hedgie, I was going to have to shut down operations until I found a new stud. LUCKILY, literally a day or two later, a couple had a hedgehog that they just couldn't wait to get rid of. This was Bruce and he was a wonderful stud for about a year and a half before he ran out of steam and failed to produce litters. I sold him to a new home and, as far as I've heard, he's happy as a 'hog in sh*t lol Another stroke of good luck happened to me when a wonderful woman who was going to buy from me bought from another seller. I had answered a great deal of her questions and told her that, even though she had not bought from me, I would be glad to answer any more questions that she might have regarding her new charge who she named Nigel. Six weeks later, I get a call from her asking if I want to purchase Nigel from her. She was unhappy because she could not hold him. It turned out that he was a biter and had been from the very start. However, he was calm otherwise and did not exhibit any health issues or other social problems so I went ahead and bought him. I got bit when I transferred him from his old home into his new one. After getting bit four times, visiting the doctor four times, getting my tetanus update once, and antibiotics all four times (plus one personal pregnancy scare-- thanks, Nigel!), I went to Home Depot and bought some industrial strength gloves that even those wicked fangs of his couldn't penetrate.
Hedgehog production slowed down during the time when I had to figure out why Bruce was "shooting blanks" and the time in which I bought Nigel and raised him to be old enough to breed. Then I moved and my breeding schedule got all wonky and I forgot to breed Runs-In-Circles and didn't breed Rosey long for long enough... What a crazy rollercoaster ride this has been!
I'm now looking for a second male who I can mate with Fortuna, the daughter of Nigel and Calliope.
My boyfriend also made me a snazzy and very organised space in my oversized office where I can keep all of my hedgehogs plus a few other critters that I have crowdin' up the joint.

If you'd like to follow the hijinks that are a regular occurrence in the home of a hedgehog breeder then follow me on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr all under the name of Hedgehoginablog.
I look forward to working with all of you, sharing experiences, and learning new things!

--Amy
Hedgehog In A Blog

Click to expand...

Hi, Amy. My name is Char S. and I live in Anchorage, Alaska. It's been my desire for the past few years to acquire a pair of hedgies. I absolutely LOVE them! I am retired, and have lots of time on my hands, have a lot of love to give, and would love to breed them for my Alaskan neighbors and friends. I will be visiting Southern Cali in Jan., 2016. Please contact me and let me know if there is a chance we can meet up. 907-250-7397.

Hello Amy.
I would love to get a hedgie from you. I'm not home during normal human hours, so a hedgie will be a perfect buddy for me.
Please email me your contact info. my email is: theuncle@ymail.com
I'm really looking forward to speaking with you.